Article Writing: How to Write Articles

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by quapan

Article Writing: How to Write Articles

Writing Articles: A mini course in article writing: how to write & sell articles

Article writing techniques: how to write articles for prestige, writing & selling freelance articles

Many aspiring article writers are put off by many books on writing articles and writers courses which, with voluminous detail on writing articles and analysis of article writing techniques, cause those aspiring to write articles to be confused about how to write articles, to loose interest in writing articles.

Many columnists earning a living by writing articles did not learn their craft from books on how to write articles or writing courses.

Writing articles to many is a means of earning a living. The field of article writing is one in which it matters not whether you are a writing class graduate or a

DLitt., or have no formal exam. pass. To write articles you need only reasonable spelling and general knowledge from reading articles in newspapers or magazines, watching documentaries or news. If you lack the discipline and the patience to write books, novels, movie-scripts, you still can enjoy money and fame writing articles. The article writing market is wide: local or national newspapers, juvenile or teen-age, trade or international magazines all need articles, and writers to write articles. You can write articles on ‘how to’ issues, on issues you feel strongly about and can state opinions.

Freelance Article Writing

Not all possess knowledge or interest to write articles arguing issues. But there are many topics on which anyone can write articles. Many interested in writing articles use files or labelled envelopes to keep magazine

or newspaper cuttings, or an exercise book to jot news or ideas in. These help in writing articles; and there are writers’ sources listing important events past, present, or future as topics to write articles on. Reference or quotations books are ideas sources for topics for writing articles. In writing articles, in all article writing, more than the subjects on which writers write articles, how interestingly to the readers they write articles is what sells articles, makes popular.

The trend in writing articles is: biographical, historical; more, on home economics, increasingly philosophical; always human interest articles. You do not have to write articles on these -you may write articles on anything if informative, interesting, and not libelous (e.g., nothing “is not” good but only “I think it is not”). 

When you write articles, the copyright is yours,

whether you sold your article or contributed gratis -unless the copyright has been specifically bought. When you write articles and sell them, normally you sell printing rights. Most buy first publication rights, in the USA some reprint rights. Monies from freelance writing are taxable income.

The Copyright Conventions (incorporated as Intellectual Property Rights) are voluntary agreements which many nations subscribe to with laws basically same but varying in detail. It entitles any author of any country to economic protection in any member country for a period of 50 years from the authors death –but does allow reproduction of parts reasonably in the scientific or literary works by acknowledging the author as a matter of ethics and courtesy ~except in, e.g., the USA and Israel under the Fair Use doctrine which allows more extensively for

various purposes [if, e.g., it does not exploit the market] reproduction in whole without the permission and the knowledge of the author. One may not be prosecuted for copyright infringement (except in some cases of digital reproduction), but if can show resultant economic loss (e.g., that one would have financially benefited oneself) one may sue civil law –and it is lawful (without defaming = if true) to reasonably publicize plagiarism.

(If you submit an articles to internet article-sites copyright-free, despite reputable ones’  conditions for re-publication, beware, by some they may re-published without any links or be plagiarized [appear under an author name other than your name or pen-name/s]  –as, e.g., this article had been plagiarised on academic ‘ilmkidunya’.)

When writing articles also bear in mind: some publications will

not consider unsolicited articles; all want the freelance articles you write to be word-processed, double spaced, with the number of words stated -approx. 1,500 (longer if asked), and your contact details. Submit topical freelance articles at least three months early. If proposing writing a column send at least six articles.

Policies in Article Writing

It is disadvantageous to write articles to submit speculatively. While established writers do write articles to be syndicated, it is advantageous for the newly interested in writing articles to write for newspapers or magazines which they are familiar with, or to familiarise themselves with newspapers or magazines which they wish to write articles for. The USA’s Writer’s Market or even Writer’s Handbook, or the UK’s rather limited Writer’s & Artist’s Yearbook or its Canadian

equivalent may help, glancing though the publications one is interested in writing articles for suffices.

Remember when writing articles: newspapers’, magazines’ preferences differ. Cosmopolitan’s emphasis differs than She’s -itself different than in 1970s; policies also change as Ink’s in 1980s. In freelance article writing also style matters: The Sun or Daily Mirror use much shorter sentences than the Times; keep to the ‘fox-index’ -average sentence length. Ask a magazine you want to write articles for, for complimentary copy -college magazines, trade journals aren’t widely available.

Do not offend readers. In writing freelance articles the readership sensitivities matter. “We know Byron’s reason –what’s yours?” wrote the witty Cypriot writer-thinker-poet, the late,  teacher Orhan Seyfi Ari in Birlik in a open letter to a British Prime Minister

–whether the author’s stance on the issue in the editor’s opinion from the point of view of the readership would be applauded or frowned upon is a matter entirely of readership sensitivities, generally or on a particular issue at the relevant time and circumstance. More so is language used. Language acceptable to Playgirl is not to Lady magazine. Few publications allow four-letter words; some require above-average inoffensive language. In writing articles bear in mind the sensitivities of the readership your article is for.

In writing articles to freelance remember: what to the American is ‘chips’ to the British is ‘crisps’. In writing articles pay attention to these -it matters: ‘rubber’ in Britain, ‘durex’ in Australia is ‘eraser’ -in the UK ‘durex’, in the USA ‘rubber’ is condom.

If writing articles for teenagers or juveniles do not talk down to

them -they like to be treated as grown-ups. The taboos in writing articles for them are: gambling, crime, cruelty, playing on differences of rich and poor, ideologies, politics, war ~subjects considered detrimental to their physical and mental development. What to you may have been ‘groovy, super, divine’ to them is ‘cool’. Some teenage publications concentrate on teenage love, but bear in mind when writing articles for them, more than sexual, it is sympathetic, romantic, idealised love.

Preparation in Writing Articles

1. Subjects in Article Writing

Remember in article writing: most profitable businesses have always been in the fields, in this order, of: money, food, sex.

The most successful soap-operas are about the lives, life-styles, of the wealthy. People like to read about them, copy them ~not

everybody purchase at the Ideal Home Exhibition, but many buy the Ideal Home magazine to inexpensively copy from it. Most magazines and newspapers, even The Times, has cookery columns -cookery books sell ‘like hot cake’. Magazine and newspaper agony or advice columns are often about problems directly or indirectly involving sex -a paperback on how to tell if a man was cheating on a woman, in one single day had to be re-stocked several times by Selfridges and Harrods, on first night went into third print!

It pays in article writing. But article writing can be on, e.g., water.

2. Viewpoint in Writing Articles

If you are writing articles, e.g., for a water-bottling firm’s trade magazine, write from its viewpoint: ‘bottled water better!’ … Or…

Cookery column: how water can be used to make lighter pastry.

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